Memo to Republicans, America is Getting all Philosophical again…

…and the last time that happened the Number 1 hit songs in America were “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Dixie”. The first time it was “Yankee Doodle”.

Do you notice a common thread there? Oh, there were love song to Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair, Kathleen Malvourneen or Meine Yiddish Momme, but they were hummed over an open camp fire…only not as often as “Tenting on the Old Campground.” They had their light airs, jigs and reels, and hymns, but always they lived and breathed two deeply philosophical notions wrapped in those two songs, one the end of slavery, and the other their “rats”. Seems things never really change, do they?

Now, I know many in the intellectual wing of the party would snigger at me saying this. I recall in the mid 70s I watched a PBS roundtable in which three theologians were discussing Boberg/Hines’ “How Great Thou Art”, known far and wide because of George Beverly Shea. I’ll never forget this, but the Methodist theologian said that while it was a nice song, it was philosophically very “thin”, and I thought to myself “One of us just doesn’t get it.” So, at that very moment I quit being a Methodist.

In the same way, you can possibly understand why so many people now are teetering on their party membership, as the party, our party, is currently constituted and focused.

Real history, real turning points in history don’t come that often. I think it is important to let you know that history is about to pass you by. If you don’t believe me, research all the prominent Americans who stood on the sidelines in 1776 and 1860.

A couple of weeks ago Rush Limbaugh mentioned a professor at Hillsdale College who wrote a piece that posited that perhaps America is about to finally mature into the essential citizenry the Constitution and the Founders always hoped for. (My words, not his.) Of course, this was debated by two 30-somethings who argued that such dreams of liberty and personal responsibility no longer existed in their generation (X’ers). Maybe so. But it warmed my heart just to hear it, coming from an intellectual, as it did. It was good to know there are still some who do get it.

More than a few conservatives out here on RedState, a couple of whom are bona fide intellectuals, but mostly just really well-read, smart people, with degrees from Georgia State Teachers College, etc., instead of Yale, but who nevertheless can tell a horse from a mule, have written here on a variety of topics; legal, historic, scientific, and philosophic. Point is, we discuss subjects here that it seems sometimes none of you even know exist, such as the essentials and beauty of Liberty, with a capital “L”. I don’t think it is considered an intellectual topic anymore, but it was a common theme among intellectuals when they still played “Battle Hymn” (as was God). So I’m kind of wondering, one, what happened to it, Congressmen? And, two, what do you think of it? You never talk about it. You never wax poetic. Harry Reid can work up a tear for a Charlie Chan movie, but you never bite your lower lip about the most precious treasure ever bestowed on mankind. I’m just saying.

You see, the American people are beginning to think those thoughts again. They have eyes, and they look around and see that a kind of slavery is still among us, contrary to everything they’d been raised to believe. And they’ve noticed that instead of fighting this new kind of bondage, you’re spending your time trying to convince us that you can manage the plantation better than the original slave holders.

And they’ve noticed that so distracted have you become that the assaults on their (our) own personal freedoms and “rats” have increased in intensity and temerity. Why, the other side of the aisle hardly disguises what they are doing anymore, or what they intend to do. They’re standing out there in the open and telling us. Still, you speak of things that are as inconsequential as a gnat bite…unless

…you wrap your protests up in arguments that are based on a deep and abiding love for Liberty, the United States Constitution and the things it always held out as most dear for ordinary citizens as they go about their lives.

Just a suggestion, Senators and Members…I know it isn’t cool to stand in the well of Congress, or in front of a microphone and go on about how much you love the Constitution, or Freedom, or godferbid, the rights of the common ordinary men and women in this country…

…but you see, the American citizenry is getting all philosophical again. They’re studying and reading, taking night classes, even going back to church and praying in the old fashioned way. After 100 years of racism, which has really been dead over forty years now, and 100 years of civic disinterest bordering on indifference, they are relearning for the first time in four generations what the real duties of citizenship are, and what the real price of Liberty is. Maybe the professor at Hillsdale is right.

They are getting all philosophical again, ladies and gentlemen, and are about to change history…without you…